"Depression takes its deadly harvest"

Prof. Ronald Collins at Concurring Opinions used this phrase to describe the suicide of Robin Williams yesterday.  It is sadly apropo.  In the law professor community, one of our own, Prof. Cheryl Hanna of Vermont Law School committed suicide late last month.  As I understand it, the untimely death in 2011 of one of legal academia's brightest lights, Prof. Richard Nagareda of Vanderbilt, was also a suicide.  These issues are near to my heart (see here, here, and here).  

As I said in telling my story: "Quite often, you just want to end the suffering – not so much your own, but the perceived suffering of those around you [which is caused by your misery].  You have frequent thoughts that everyone would be better off if you were not around anymore, because, being in such misery yourself, you clearly bring only misery to those around you.  When you are in the hole, suicide seems like the kindest think you can do for your family and friends, as ending your life would end their pain and misery." 

The most heartbreaking exchange I have ever had with a colleague dealing with depression, was when this colleague came to me after a college friend of his committed suicide.  He was describing being at the funeral and everyone being so sad.  He was really disturbed that he didn't feel sad, but he couldn't (or wouldn't) articulate how he felt.  Looking into his eyes and into my own head, I immediately said: "You were jealous.  He got out.  He isn't in pain anymore, while you are still here and still dealing with this s__t." All he could manage was a tearful nod (which was all I could manage thereafter).  So I understand the feeling.  

After learning that Prof. Hanna's death was a suicide, Assoc. Dean David Jaffe (American Univ.) proposed calling for a national teach-in on depression and suicide for both our students and our colleagues.  I think this is a wonderful idea.  Obviously David's idea is still in its infancy, but anyone who would be interested in helping flesh it out, participating, etc. feel free to send me an email (or contact David) or leave a comment.  One of the best things that any of us can offer a family member, colleague, friend, etc. who is (or may be) struggling with depression, is hope:  Hope that things can get better; hope that depression is treatable and beatable.  A teach-in (or whatever) as David suggests could be a great vehicle for providing hope to those who need it. 

The Huffington Post has an article about Robin Williams's suicide with some pretty sobering statistics and this helpful advice:

"When talking to someone suffering depression, 'it's best not to say anything that is going to make them think that what they're dealing with is because of a lack of coping skills, personal weakness or a character flaw,' Dr. Adam Kaplin, an associate professor in the departments of psychiatry and neurology at Johns Hopkins University, told The Huffington Post for a previous article. 'The worst part of depression is that it narrows the field of vision into a very small tube so they can't see the options. A lot of [the goal of helping] is giving people a hope that things will get better.'" 

I am living proof (for better or worse) that hope can go a long way.

Comments

[W. David Ball]

I'd be interested in participating. I'm particularly interested in getting good materials that I could use to conduct the teach-in. I feel it's crucial, but this is also my tenure year and I don't have the bandwidth right now to develop anything myself. Thanks as always for your writing on the subject. It's been really informative, and I've taken the discussion back to my faculty and engaged in some really productive dialogue as a result.

[Amy]

Thank you so much for all of your valuable posts about coping with and confronting depression in our professional community!

[Autumn]

Brian, thank you, as always, for your candor. Professor Nagareda was at UGa when I was there, as well. He did not teach in my Section, but I understand from others that he was a very gifted teacher. Thanks for continuing to pry the door open and shed light on these topics in a difficult but meaningful way.

[Sean Nolon]

Brian - I am interested in the idea of a teach-in. Cheryl was a close friend (and colleague) and I am trying to figure out what we can do to help others who will confront similar challenges. Please keep me in the loop if this idea gets legs.

[TS]

Don't forget Law Professor Alan Williams: http://www.spokesman.com/blogs/hbo/2013/mar/05/ui-profs-suicide-leaves-questions/

[TS]

Or Professor Darmer: http://www.ocregister.com/articles/law-341323-darmer-university.html

[Orin Kerr]

Thanks for this important post..

[TS]

I tried posting URLs to two additional newspaper articles about recent lawprof suicides, but these might have been filtered out as spam due to the URLs.

We should also remember Professor Katherine Darmer (Chapman Law) and Alan Williams (University of Idaho), who also committed suicide recently (in 2012 and in 2013). Seems to be an epidemic in law teaching.

[Bob Strassfeld]

Brian,

Thank you so very much for this post. It is a good corrective to the rather tone deaf posting at http://lawrence-mitchell.squarespace.com/blog/2014/8/13/in-memory-of-armand-goldman-an-essay-in-love-and-vulnerabiltiy. More important is your continuing effort to give hope to our colleagues and students, as well as their friends and family. I think the teach-in is an excellent idea.